Page 81 of Embraced in Ink

“Jesus.”

“Yeah, I’m going to just keep on cursing right along with you. I need my baby sister to be safe.”

“I thought you were the baby,” Marcus said, trying to laugh, using the old joke, but there was nothing funny about it.

“She’s still our baby sister,” Aaron warned and then walked back into the room, Marcus on his heels.

They waited for another thirty minutes, and then the doctor was there, letting them know that Bristol would be fine, that she’d wake soon. She’d lost a lot of blood but would recover fully.

Marcus’s knees went weak, and he almost threw up, but then the others were talking, tears flowing.

Once she got moved to a different room, others would visit her. They would make sure she was safe, but Marcus knew he couldn’t see her. Not yet.

Because if he saw her without that vivid life in her eyes, on her face, he didn’t know what he’d do.

And before he spoke to her, before he could apologize, he needed to figure out exactly how to fix things between them.

Because he had nearly lost her, in more ways than one. He had almost lost the light and love of his life.

And he needed to figure out exactly how the fuck to fix that.

Chapter 20

“I’m honestly really surprised that you got the Montgomery brothers to actually leave you alone,” Zia said from the other side of the couch.

Bristol smiled, and though she truly felt that grin, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. At least that’s what she figured from the way Zia looked at her.

“Considering that I slept most of the time they were here, and you’re the one who got them to leave, I don’t know why you’re so surprised,” Bristol said, grinning.

She had been attacked a week ago, and was now at home, resting and healing. She wasn’t a hundred percent, and it would be a while before she got there, but she didn’t have to stay in the hospital, and was allowed to sleep in her own bed. That was when she knew she would be okay.

Her brothers had taken turns staying the night. Her mother had taken over her guestroom completely. Tonight, however, it was only Zia at her place, thankfully.

Everyone else had taken their turns, but Zia had promised that she would take care of Bristol, even though Bristol was doing just fine on her own. Yes, her side hurt, and every time she moved, she felt like her stitches or staples were going to break or pop. That wasn’t the case, but she couldn’t help her overactive imagination.

And she hadn’t wanted to stay away from her home.

She had bled out on her tile, and after the police had left and had taken away all of their crime scene stuff, Arden and the girls had scrubbed her kitchen from top to bottom. It gleamed, far cleaner than it had been before everything had happened.

And they’d change the locks on her doors, even though that hadn’t been the issue.

They scrubbed everything and added flowers and baked goods and tons of pre-cooked meals for the freezer.

They made it so her home felt like hers, at least mostly. It was going to take a while for her to be able to breathe again without looking out to where Colin had attacked her. She refused to allow her home to only be about what Colin had done.

Her music room/studio was exactly how it had always been. She was going to create there again. It might take a while, but she would make it happen.

There hadn’t been a speck of blood on the carpet, and she might still have to go and change that one day. Add new paint to the walls, do something to make it a little bit different from what Colin had changed it into.

Yes, that was all on him. She wasn’t going to blame herself for it—or maybe she had to.

She had been the one to let him in, after all.

“Hey, you are blaming yourself again, aren’t you? I can see it in your face.”

Bristol’s brows rose. “You cannot blame me for that,” Bristol said, “You can’t look into my eyes and see that.”

“I so can. You’re either thinking about Marcus, or you’re blaming yourself for what Colin did. Don’t make me hit you.”